3 things not to do when generating leads with Twitter ads

When it comes to using Twitter ads for lead generation, advertisers have a wide range of content promotion options to choose from.

What are Twitter Ads?

There are a number of different ad options available; which you choose depends on what’s being promoted, and how you want your audience to interact.

Promoted Tweets: Promoting singular Tweets (such as a lead generation card), this allows advertisers to reach a wider audience and increase existing follower engagement. These Tweets are just like normal Tweets; they can be replied to, retweeted, favourited, and appear in Twitter timelines and Twitter search.

Promoted Trends:Promoted trends typically appear in user’s timelines at the top of the ‘Trending Topics’ box, alongside other real-time trends, and occasionally display on users' timelines.

Promoted Accounts: This option promotes a Twitter account in order to reach audiences who are not currently followers, but may find the account interesting. Promoting accounts is a good way to increase your relevant followers and social reach.

Note that Promoted Tweets can be dismissed, and that Twitter users can choose to opt out of seeing Twitter ads entirely via their settings. All promoted content is clearly labeled so, regardless of type.

Twitter ad mistakes to avoid

As with most social promotion channels, Twitter ads allow targeted promotion to specific social users; ideal to increase your relevant followers and reach, and generate a valuable base of prospects.

But of course, when using Twitter ads for lead generation, there are a few things you shouldn’t do, and common pitfalls to avoid:

Twitter ad mistake 1: Not optimising your content

If you’re promoting a Tweet, Trend or Account, you want to be sure your content is optimised to appeal to potential prospects as much as possible.

Promoted Tweets (which may include Lead Generation Cards) should offer content that speaks to the leads you’re trying to attract, solves their problems, or presents intrigue/ a possible solution.

Include the key terms for the campaign you are promoting in your Promoted Tweets - and identify your most relevant hashtags to use alongside. Both of these may also inform a Promoted Trend campaign.

The content of your profile description should include key terms too, especially if you are promoting your account.

Strategic use of hashtags in regular and promoted Tweets will boost awareness, interaction, grab the attention of relevant audiences, and show exactly what your content is about.

Images are a key aspect of well optimised Tweets and profiles. Tweets that include images for example can receive 200% more engagement. Make sure any images you use in Promoted Tweets are relevant to the content and add value. You might use a CTA image if promoting an offer for example.

If you are promoting your account, make sure your profile imagery (profile picture and header image) is strongly representative of your brand.

Twitter ad mistake 2: Not testing your ads

Confident in your copy? Think you’ve got it just right? It’s tempting to jump in, place your ads then forget about them. But unless you test and review your campaigns, you won’t know what’s successful, and what’s costing unnecessary budget. Testing also removes assumption - never just assume your audience of desired leads will be interested in your ads. You must rely on data-informed insight to see success.

The result you’re trying to achieve will depend on the promotional campaign you run. For example:

To increase followers, Promoted Accounts may be best.

For more engagement, think Promoted Trends.

To increase Lead Generation Card completion, promote the Tweet.

However you may want to test a mix of these to see which is most effective for your brand.

Equally, experiment with your budget, audience demographic, copy and other creative until your find the best mix for you. Aim to allocate 5-10% of your budget to adequate testing.

Twitter offers it’s own analytics - so there’s no excuse for ignoring your social data. Review what’s working, examine the engagement you get and see which of the keywords you set your campaign up with are working. Twitter itself suggests: "Try creating a campaign with a set of tightly themed keywords and starting a weekly optimization rhythm. After the first week, once you have enough data, view the engagement rate of each keyword."

Twitter ad mistake 3: Failing to nurture your relationships

Promotional activity is likely to increase engagement with your content and boost your followers - so make the most of it!

If people have recently engaged with your content, aim to continue that conversation and nurture the relationship with your brand to secure them as a lead.

Social engagement fails under the ‘attract’ realm of the conversion funnel, so use it to inform potential leads of your content offers further down the funnel. Always aim to be helpful; answer the questions that you can, and be as transparent as possible. Never forget that Twitter is a social platform first, as well as an advertising tool - make the most of all the aspects you can!